Dancing Through The Gate
by Lee Davies
Summary: SG1 encounters a race who communicate only through dance...who're they gonna call? Nick and Lena Kosovich! Sequal to J & S Vs. Ballroom Bootcamp. COMPLETE!
1. Let's Dance

_Here it is! The long promised sequal to "Ballroom Bootcamp"...please read and review this and be sure to watch Nick Kosovich on season 2 of "Dancing With The Stars" on ABC, Tuesday and Thursday night beginning January 5th..._

* * *

"Are we ready?" asked Jack O'Neill. He and SG1 were preparing to go on a mission to P4X-241 and he was making sure everything was in order.

"Yes, sir." replied Samantha O'Neill, Jack's wife of 6 months now. It had taken some suspended regulations, Ballroom Bootcamp (and more importantly their dance coaches, Nicholas and Elena Kosovich) to get the two of them to admit their feelings for each other.

"I'm ready." offered Daniel Jackson, his old bucket hat already perched on his head.

"You haven't worn that one in a while, Danny Boy."

Daniel smiled sheepishly. "Someone told me the do rag wasn't exactly working for them..."

"Someone like Janet Frasier, perhaps?" Sam teased.

The O'Neills chuckles as the anthropologist turned a very interesting shade of red.

"I never said that!"

"You didn't have to..." Jack said with a snicker.

As Daniel gave them both his best "Glare of Impending Death", Teal'c walked up.

"I am ready." he announced.

The okay came from the control room, the coordinates were dialed, and they were off.

The first thing that greeted SG1 when they emerged on the other side of the gate was a volley of arrows.

"Haven't these people heard of "Hospitaliano"?" Jack asked as they took cover.

Sam's reponse was to smack Jack on the back of the head while Daniel laughed.

"We're never going to the Olive Garden again." she groaned.

The arrows were still coming thick and Daniel took the opportunity to take his video camera out and begin taping. Seeing one of the bushes rustle, he zoomed in and a face took shape...that of what appeared to be a 4-5 year old boy. His brown eyes were full of fear but his face was set in determination.

Looking up, Daniel noticed Jack and Teal'c were about to return fire.

"Stop! They're only kids!" he yelled.

The arrows stopped, and Jack turned to Daniel. "What are you hollerin' about, Danny Boy?"

He stopped taping, rewound it, and showed it to Jack.

"Okay everyone, be careful...it looks like we're dealing with a bunch of kids here." Jack said, concerned.

Turning his camera back on barely in time, Daniel whirled around to find a young man coming out of the brush. He walked toward them warily, a bow and arrow in his hands.

"Hi there." Jack said jovially.

The boy's face widened, and he stared at Jack in shock.

"I'm Jack." the colonel continued, tapping himself on the chest.

Screwing up his face in concentration, the boy made a few croaking sounds before "Yak." came out. He looked proud of himself, and Sam couldn't help but giggle a little.

"Yak?" she whispered to Daniel who was trying not to laugh himself.

"Oh, I'm going to have some FUN with this one! I can FINALLY get him back for all of the times he's called me "Space Monkey"...serves him right!" Daniel cackled evilly.

Jack shot them both a look before shaking his hands from side to side. This seemed to excite the young man, who began to make a series of movements with his hands, body, and feet. He finished and looked at them expectantly. Jack shrugged, and the boy sighed, sounding frustrated.

"It seems that shrugging your shoulders is a universal sign of ignorance...how appropriate that Jack proved this..." Daniel commented wryly.

"And guess whose combat boots are going to be connecting with your little smart aleck butt when we get back to earth?" Jack asked sweetly.

"Ummm...an angry colonel's?" Daniel suggested.

Jack's grin was positively satanic. "Give the Space Monkey a prize!"

The boy looked at them quizically for a moment, before creeping a bit closer to get a better look at them. When he caught sight of Teal'c, a look of rage passed over his face and he put his arrow to his bow, ready to shoot.

"No!" Jack cried.

He recieved a puzzled look, then the young man lowered the bow slowly.

"He's nice!" Jack protested. "Teal'c, try and look...I don't know...friendly or something."

Teal'c tried to smile, but it didn't seem to go over too well with their visitor. Giving them a "yeah, right," look, he backed away.

"This is certainally beyond us...we need to go back to earth and figure out how they communicate." Daniel said.

"Sounds like a plan...Daniel, dial home."

* * *

At the debriefing, General Hammond watched the tape in utter fascination. "So what you're telling me is that these people don't seem to talk?"

Jack had been silent up until now, but finally spoke. "Sir...it looks like a dance to me."

Everyone's heads snapped toward him in surprise.

"A dance, Colonel?" the general asked faintly.

"Yes, sir." Jack replied, rising to his feet. "I can't pick out a particular dance style, but there's a definite rhythm to what he's doing... and I know just the person to help us figure it out..."

General Hammond took a pad and pen in hand.

"Tell me who it is and I'll have them here in 24 hours."

Jack grinned at Sam, who wondered what on earth her husband was plotting now. "Dr. Nicholas E. Kosovich...he's an ethnomusicologist."

Daniel looked at Jack, his jaw agape. "Nick Kosovich? As in Ballroom Bootcamp Nick Kosovich?"

"The one and only." came the Colonel's smug reply.

"What are his credentials, O'Neill?" General Hammond asked curiously.

"Is a degree from Julliard good enough?" said Jack in an innocent tone.

"He'll be here in 24 hours." the general said.

"What's an ethnomusicologist?" Sam asked, confused.

"Exactly what we need." Daniel replied absentminedly as he gathered his notes and exited the conference room.

"An ethnomusicologist is someone who studies music, or in the case of our dear Nick, the combination of dance and song, and the way it fits into the cultural psyche of the different peoples." Jack supplied helpfully.

"Umm, thank you...Dance Einstein." Sam replied, slightly weirded out that Jack was the one who was able to explain it.

"Don't mention it." Jack said, giving her a cheeky wink that made her laugh.

"You know," Sam began as they headed to the cafeteria for lunch, "I'd pay some good money to hear what Nick has to say when he gets that phone call from the General!"


	2. Enter Nick Kosovich

_Okay kids...here's the second chapter of "Dancing Through The Gate"... read and review please!

* * *

_

"Excuse me?" an incredulous Nick Kosovich asked faintly, not believing his ears.

"The Air Force needs your help, Dr. Kosovich... it's a matter of national and perhaps even world security."

Nick froze in the middle of pacing the upstairs dance floor of his workshop/dance studio he ran with Lena. "And you're calling ME because there's no one else?"

"We're calling you, Dr. Kosovich, because you were reccommended to me by a member of my staff."

"And just who would that be?" Nick asked, a suspicion growing stronger by the second in his mind.

"Colonel Jack O'Neill."

"I KNEW it!" Nick muttered.

"Will you at least come and take a look at a preliminary briefing of the problem? You will have the chance to accept or decline." the general pressed.

"All right, but my wife will need to come as well... if I decided something without her, my butt will be toast!"

General Hammond chuckled. "I'm married myself, Doctor... I understand completely."

They exchanged goodbyes and Nick hung up the phone, looking as though he had been hit by a semi. Lena came up to start making lunch and saw Nick just standing there with a stunned look on his face.

"Nick, what's wrong? Who was that?" she asked, concerned.

He turned to her, still looking like he'd been smacked with some heavy news. "That was General George Hammond from Cheyanne Mountain Colorado... apparently they have a problem that they want my help with..."

"What on earth would the Air Force want with you?" Lena scoffed.

Nick gave her a hurt look before going on. "Jonathan reccommended me... so I don't know if this is some kind of practical joke to get back at us for placing all of those bets on them or if they're actually serious and they really need my help..."

She shrugged. "I don't know..."

He sighed. "They want me to come out so I can get a "preliminary briefing" on their little issue and decide if I want to do it or not. I told them I was bringing you as well and they were fine with that..."

"When do they want you there?" Lena asked, wondering how much time she would have to pack.

"Tomorrow." Nick answered.

She took out the phone book and handed a spoon to him. "Go start stirring the noodles and I'll start notifying everyone that lessons are cancelled."

He brushed a quick kiss on her cheek before heading into the kitchen and she looked after him fondly. They were comfortable with each other, settling into a nice routine that had nothing unexpected in it.

Picking up the phone, Lena took care of business.

* * *

The next day, Nick and Lena were on a plane headed to Denver International Airport in Colorado wondering if there was going to be a huge joke awaiting them when they disembarked.

A familiar pair of faces were there to greet them, complete with dress blues and the Kosovichs could immediately tell from the expressions that Jack and Sam wore (not to mention clothes) that the request for Nick's presence was no joke.

"Can you even give me a hint as to why you'd need me?" Nick asked, more than puzzled.

"Sorry Nick..." Jack replied apologetically. "You'll get briefed when we reach Cheyanne Mountain." More than this, neither of them would say. Nick and Lena exchanged nervous glances and Nick wondered what on earth he was getting himself into.

They were checked by the security guards upon entering the complex, then taken into the elevator and down to the corridor leading to the briefing room. Upon entering the room, both of their jaws dropped open...the blast doors had not been lowered and they got quite an eyeful of the stargate before Jack bellowed for Walter to "get the damned blast doors down."

Nick whirled around as Jack came back into the room. "What in the bloody heck was that!" he demanded.

"Look Nick, General Hammond will explain everything..." Sam started soothingly.

He held up a hand. "No, YOU look... I've been told that someone will explain things to me for the past 3 and a half hours...I just want to know WHAT in the world that freakin' thing outside the window is! And for that matter, what on earth does...whatever that thing is... have anything to remotely do with me?" Nick cried tersely, more than slightly at the end of his rope.

"Dr. Kosovich, hopefully I can answer some of those questions." a voice said from behind him. Nick turned to find General Hammond, looking slightly amused. "I'm sorry to keep you waiting... the president called."

Nick's jaw dropped slightly, then he closed it abruptly. "I assume that you are General Hammond?" he asked loftily.

"Yes, I am...and I take it that this is your lovely wife?" the general asked suavely as he bowed over Lena's hand.

"I think I like this guy." she said happily.

Nick groaned and smacked his forehead with his palm.

Everyone settled down, and General Hammond handed Nick a folder. "Inside this folder there are several documents explaining what the "thing" outside the blast doors is, and also, why you were asked to come here."

They sat in silence for a moment as Nick quickly scanned the notes and his eyes widened. "This..."stargate" is used to travel to other planets!" he squawked.

"Yeah, it is. We do it every day...it's a steady job, the hours are terrible but after the first hundred thousand light years or so, you get used to it." Jack answered flippantly, watching the dancer closely.

Shaking his head in amazement and giving Jack a look, Nick flipped the page and froze. "You found a race of beings that only communicate only through dance!" he asked, his brown eyes shining.

Jack exchanged a knowing look with Sam before he replied, "Yeah we did, and we figured that you would be the man to call."

Nick looked at Lena, pleading in his gaze. She sighed, knowing that her husband loved a good puzzle and he wouldn't be able to walk away from one that involved music and dance. "Okay Nick... you can do it. We'll have Tony and Inna take over the studio for us...but we've got Blackpool in a month."

He nodded, and smiled in satisfaction. Here was something that would challenge him and allow him to use his ethno degree for the first time in a while. Lena noticed his smile and hoped that this wouldn't be a decision both of them would end up regretting...

General Hammond looked over at Daniel who was practically jumping out of his seat. "You may show them the tape, Dr. Jackson."

Daniel took the remote in one hand and pushed play. The tape was at the part where their young visitor came out and Nick watched in fascination as the boy made his movements.

"This is amazing! I can see influences from over 6 different cultures!" he said excitedly.

"I told you he was the right guy for this." Jack said to General Hammond smugly.

Nick looked around. "Does somebody have a pencil and notebook so I can take notes?"

He was handed these items by a beaming Daniel and Nick Kosovich turned his attention back to the tape. Daniel left the remote at his elbow so he could rewind and slow down parts if he needed to.

* * *

Two hours later, Jack went back to check on Nick only to find that the ethnomusicologist had filled the notebook Daniel had given him and was proceeding to write notes on his own leg with a Sharpie. Jack quickly called down to Daniel and got him to bring a couple more notebooks for Nick. Those were soon filled as well and General Hammond was amazed at the speed that Nick Kosovich could pick something apart and reduce it to its barest elements. Nick finally stopped when his hand cramped so badly that he couldn't hold the pencil anymore.

"Remind me to get youa pencilwith the squishy grip." Jack teased as he guided the man to the infirmary so he could be introduced to the resident needle weilder.

As soon as he entered, Dr. Janet Frasier surpressed a desire to giggle. Cassie was going through a ballroom dance stage and thought Nick was pretty handsome. She certainly had printed enough pictures of both him and Lena off the internet to make Janet know who they were. She was pleasantly surprised, finding Nick to be a charming, unassuming man with a wicked sense of humor.

"Ummm Nick, may I ask a small favor?" she began.

"Certainly, Janet! As long as its not something illegal or something Lena will kill me for." he replied cheekily.

Janet chuckled. "No, nothing like that... you see, my daughter Cassie loves ballroom dance... she watches all the competitions on PBS and more specifically, she watches you and Lena...you guys are her favorite couple..."

Nick could sense there was more than that and guessed at what Janet wasn't saying. "And I suppose she has a crush on me?" he asked lightly.

She grinned. "You could say that..."

"That's nothing new... say, if you could bring her here, I'd be willing to give her a quick fox trot lesson." he offered. He loved teaching children to dance, especially if they watched the competitions and so on.

"She'd love that! I need to go get her from school, so I'll let you know a time."

Nick looked at his watch. "If she doesn't have too much homework, maybe we could do it today..."

Janet gave him a look. "When I tell her I met Nicholas Kosovich, it's not going to matter HOW much homework she has! I'll bring her in a few minutes."

He waved to her and was occupied with reading over some of his notes when he heard a small gasp from behind him. He turned around, smiling to find Janet with a girl of about 17-18 who was looking at him in something akin to awe.

"G'day." he said gently.

"Hi..." she replied breathlessly.

He rose to his feet and reached his hand out to her. "Nick Kosovich."

She took his hand automatically and replied, "Cassie Frasier."

"Nice to meet you, Cassie... your mother tells me you like ballroom dance." he pressed, trying to get her to relax a little.

A smile lit the young girl's face. "Yeah, I like it a lot..."

"Well, I'm taking a break from some work I was doing and I was wondering if you would allow me the honor of giving you a fox trot lesson." Nick said, bowing to her. Cassie looked about ready to pass out but regained herself quickly and responded coolly, "That would be nice, Mr. Kosovich."

Nick tucked her arm in his like they were about to take to a professional dance floor and smiled down at her. "It's Nick."

"Okay Nick..." she said dreamily.

He winked at Janet over his shoulder who was trying so hard not to start cracking up. Nick was a sweet guy... he didn't have to do that for Cassie and Janet knew this experience was something that her daughter would treasure for a long time.

Nick guided Cassie to a small rec room where Lena was practicing their Blackpool dance. She stopped when the door opened and Cassie simply stared at her.

"Lena, this is Cassie Frasier, Janet's daughter... she's really into ballroom." Nick said gently, giving her a look that communicated everything he couldn't say.

She smiled at the girl, remembering when she was young and had gotten to meet one of her favorite dancers. "Hello Cassie, it's nice to meet you."

"You too." Cassie said politely, trying hard to be adult about this.

"I thought perhaps we could teach Cassie a little fox trot since she's here."

Lena nodded. "Fox trot isn't too bad. We'll show you what a basic box looks like, Cassie."

Cassie sat on the floor and watched them, her jaw slightly agape. "I'll NEVER be able to do that!" she said admiringly when they finished.

"Never say never Cassie... I know a pretty good pro dancer who didn't even start until he was in his 20's." Nick admonished lightly.

"Who?"

"Jonathan Roberts." the dancer replied.

"From Dancing With The Stars!" Cassie cried.

Nick nodded. "As long as you work hard at it, you can do whatever you want to do, be it dancing, being a doctor, or being a scientist, no matter what age you are."

She considered his words for a moment and almost squealed with joy when Lena said, "Okay, you take my place with Nick and we'll walk you through the box."

Lena stood beside Cassie so she could look down and see where her feet were supposed to go. She got it down pretty well in only a couple tries and both of the Kosovichs were impressed. They were able to even teach her some bronze level moves and Nick knew that Cassie showed great promise as a dancer. She had good instincts and knew how to let the man lead without being too passive, even if the footwork wasn't there 100 percent of the time.

For the last few minutes, Lena turned on a fox trot, took out her camcorder, and taped Nick dancing with Cassie. She was glowing and looked so content.

Nick escorted her back to the lab and was more than happy to pose for a few pictures with her. He had an arm around her for the first one, then he got into ballroom hold with both of them looking at the camera. Then, Nick enthusiastically re-enacted the final pose of the fox trot he did with Charlotte Jorgensen and Janet thought Cassie was going to faint. The last one was of Nick sitting in a chair with Cassie on his right leg. They were both making goofy faces and Janet almost dropped the camera from laughing so hard.

While Cassie was saying goodbye to Lena, Nick looked at Janet. "I'm not saying this to blow smoke, but Cassie shows a lot of promise as a dancer. A friend of mine has a studio here and he owes me a few... rather large favors. I think I can squeeze 3 years of lessons out of him for Cassie."

"You'd do that?" Janet asked.

Nick nodded shyly. "She's a great kid and I think that she could be very good at this... besides, I could tell that she was really enjoying it... she's got the ballroom attitude of "dance because you love it". I'll call Ben and let him know."

Janet hugged him and Nick turned crimson. Lena saw this and chuckled, knowing that her husband never understood why people reacted the way they did when he offered to help a child get lessons. He doesn't even know how good hearted he is... she thought.

The Frasiers left with Cassie promising to send Nick copies of the pictures and Jack came to take them to the mess hall for dinner.

"I see you met Cassie." Jack said, a grin on his face.

"Yes, we did... she shows a lot of promise as a ballroom dancer." Nick replied seriously.

"She certainly watches a lot of competitions and so on... I heard Janet say she's going to buy stock in Sony so she get some money back for all the tapes Cassie makes." Jack chuckled.

"We make tapes too...it always helps to watch yourself so you can get a different view of what you're doing..." Lena told him.

"Did you tape Ballroom Bootcamp?" Jack asked casually.

Nick grinned very evilly. "Yes, and we can even make a copy of it... for a price..."


	3. Fox Trotting Through The Gate

_Here's chapter three...enjoy! I appreciate all of the reviews, so keep 'em coming!

* * *

_

Once the Kosovichs had signed a confideniality agreement, Nick spent the next few days pouring over the tapes in case there was something he missed and practicing with Lena for Blackpool. They'd invited Cassie to come watch and the girl was practically dumbstruck.

"What do you think?" Nick asked.

Her mouth opened and closed a few times. "If you don't win, I'm bombing Blackpool!" she said finally.

The Kosovichs laughed, then Nick asked her if she had any favorite routines of theirs that she'd like to see while they were there.

"Well... I wouldn't mind seeing that James Bond one again..." she said shyly.

Janet came into the room just then and got to see Nick Kosovich dancing with his wife in nice dance shoes, jeans, and a form-fitting t-shirt.

"You know Cass, I think I can see why you like him..." Janet remarked reflectively, studying Nick closely.

"Mom!" Cassie hissed, somewhat scandalized.

"What?" Janet replied, shrugging. "He's a good looking guy and the whole dance factor makes it even better."

As the couple did a passby, Nick raised an eyebrow at Janet who turned beet red. He winked cheekily at her and she allowed herself a small laugh. Nick was certainly something else entirely!

* * *

That afternoon, Nick presented his finding thus far to General Hammond and the rest of SG1. 

"From what I can make out, there don't seem to be any particular style of dance that is exactly the same as any we have here on earth." he began. "However, there are elements of Arabic story dances, Asian Kabuki, and even some Spanish flamenco as well as some things that can only be described as Modern Smooth or even Rhythm."

"So how do we communicate with them?" Jack asked.

Nick puffed his cheeks out then released the air quickly. "I'm going to need some more footage to study...what little you got has been informative, but if I'm going to make any kind of link between their language and ours, I'm going to have to have something else to go on."

"How'd you like to go see them in person?" Daniel said, a smile on his face.

The dancer's face registered great surprise. "Me? Go through the stargate?" he asked, almost as though he was in a dream.

"Dr. Frasier will have to give you a physical and make sure you're fit, but aside from that, it's almost necessary for you go accompany SG1 Dr. Kosovich." General Hammond added.

"Call me Nick, and wow... I'd welcome the opportunity to study this further!" Nick replied excitedly.

He was dragged down to the infirmary where Janet declared him in perfect health.

"Despite all the Krispy Cremes he sneaks when he thinks I'm not looking!" Lena said wryly. Sam had taken her to Janet's office when she was informed that Nick might be going through the stargate with Jack, Daniel, and the large man with the gold thing on his forehead whom they called "Teal'c".

"Darn it! I thought you didn't know about that!" her husband groaned as he dressed behind the curtain.

She looked upward and closed her eyes. "I know EVERYTHING... haven't you learned that by now?"

"Forgive me, my leige but I am a stupid man and forget such things..." came the sassy reply from Nick as he stepped out.

Sam and Janet chuckled as Lena rolled her eyes. Nick gave her his best charming grin and the other two women looked away. Even though Sam was married and Janet was currently seeing Daniel, that didn't stop a certain dancer's smile from being somewhat lethal!

"That should be outlawed..." Janet muttered.

Lena heard that and turned around. "Try being angry with him when he does that!" she sighed. "Especially when he cheats and pulls the accent out!"

"Ooh..." Sam said, wincing. "And I thought Jack's little Minnesota twang was bad!"

"Oh no, we're not just talking a little pronuciation difference... Nick can recall his accent at will... and it's not fair!" Lena complained.

While the women complained about the little things their respective men did to get themselves out of trouble, Cassie was grumbling over her English.

"Argh! I cannot figure out what the theme of this stupid poem is!" she cried.

Nick hurried over to her. "Ahhh, Lord Byron... he can tough sometimes." he said sympathetically. He went through the poem carefully with her, making sure she understood exactly what was being said. "So the theme of this one would be... loss?" Cassie asked.

The dancer beamed at her. "You got it!"

Without thinking about it, Cassie threw her arms around Nick. "You are the coolest Nick!" she said joyfully.

He blushed slightly and grinned at her. "You ever need English help, who you gonna call?" he quipped.

"Nick Kosovich." Cassie responded, a matching grin on her face.

"You got that right!"

Lena watched him with Cassie, wondering if they were going to have a family of their own someday. You couldn't dance forever and she wanted to have a child before it was too late.

* * *

As Dr. Frasier was giving Sam her usual exam before the mission, scheduled for the next day, she found something that made her grin from ear to ear. She called the lab. "Sam, it's Janet... could you come down here?" 

Sam appeared quickly and asked, "What's going on Janet?"

The doctor smiled at her. "You're not going to be going on the mission." she replied.

"Why! You seem happy about it too..." Sam cried, suspicious.

"Let's just say that Mini O'Neill might not like the ride." Janet said smugly.

The weight of what Janet was saying finally hit Sam.

"I'm pregnant! Oh gosh..."

Janet let Sam sit there for a few moments until the scientist lept to her feet. "Jack! I've got to tell him!"

Doctor Frasier watched her leave and smiled to herself. Sam wasn't the only one who was expecting. There would be two surprised fathers to be...

* * *

Daniel was telling Nick about some of their more amusing previous missions when a loud whoop of joy was heard from the hallway. 

"Was that Jack?" Nick asked, trying not to laugh.

"Either that or General Hammond had a voice change!"

The two men chuckled over that until Jack came bursting into the room. "I'm gonna be a father!" he announced gleefully. Lena, who was coming to tell Nick some news of her own turned on her heel and came back the way she came. She would tell her husband later, after Jack's news had some time to settle.

Both of the men's eyes widened.

"That's... great news Jack!" Daniel finally managed.

"I'm sure you'll be a great father." Nick offered.

A sad smile passed over Jack's face before his jubilant look returned. "Thanks boys! I gotta go tell the General... apparently he made a few bets he'll get to collect on..."

"And here I thought Lena and I were horrible with the bets!" the dancer quipped.

Daniel shook his head. "Honestly, compared to General Hammond and Sam's dad Jacob, you and Lena are mere amateurs!"

Nick whistled. "Those two must really be something..."

"Oh Nick, you have no idea..." Daniel groaned.

"And I have the feeling I don't really want to..."

"Better for your sanity if you don't..." the anthropologist replied.

"What sanity?" Nick scoffed. "I once knew sanity, but it managed to escape... it couldn't handle the unnatural environment of my brain!"

Daniel laughed at this and walked with Nick to the room where he was practicing for Blackpool with Lena. "Is everything going well with your dances?" Daniel asked curiously.

Nick sighed. "Technically everything is there, but for some reason, finding the spark has been a little difficult lately."

"Well you've been working really hard on this problem and both of you are in a really strange place so you may just need some more time to adjust to the new surroundings." Daniel said helpfully.

"Eh, maybe you're right Daniel, but I feel like Lena and I have sort of gotten into a kind of rut... we've been doing pretty much the same thing for 6 months now and I was getting a little restless... perhaps this will be an opportunity to change the status quo a bit."

"That's the spirit, Nick! Have fun!" Daniel teased.

Nick good-naturedly swatted his new friend on the arm before entering the room. Daniel hoped that whatever was going on would be worked out. Both Lena and Nick were good people who deserved to be happy, not just merely content. Shrugging his shoulders, he headed down the hall to the lab, wondering if Jack would go into overprotective father mode. He could just hear what Sam would have to say about that...

* * *

The morning of Nick's first mission came and he was extremely nervous. Lena had told him she was going to remain behind with Sam, who seemed quite bummed that she would have to remain behind. 

"Women's Solidarity Movement?" Nick had asked her that morning.

"Something like that... just be safe and come back in one piece." she told him, kissing him on the cheek.

"I'll do my best!" he replied, feeling like something was missing.

As go time crept nearer and nearer,he paced the floor. Daniel and Jack did their best to reassure him about it while Teal'c merely stood by and said nothing.

"Nick, we've done this plenty of times... you'll be fine." Daniel said soothingly.

"I promise nothing's going to happen!" Jack added.

Their resident ethnomusicologist glared at them. "Okay, but if anything happens to me, Lena gets to kill you."

"I will make sure, in the event of your demise, that she is given the opportunity, Nicholas Kosovich." Teal'c said firmly.

Daniel and Jack looked at one another. "Fine... but nothing's going to happen." Jack said, trying to exude his usual confidence. He was falling a bit short of the mark though. Everyone who was around the Kosovichs for more than 10 minutes learned VERY quickly that you didn't mess with Lena and live to tell about it!

Walter began inputting the chevrons and Nick watched the gate dial its destination, his jaw hanging open like a little kid about to take his first airplane ride. Once the last chevron was locked into place, the gate KAWOOSHED open and Nick continued to stare at it.

"SG1, you have a go." General Hammond told them from the control room.

SG1, minus Sam, moved forward with an awestruck Nick trailing behind them. Lena was watching from the control room and began to laugh when she saw the way Nick was approaching the stargate. He was rhumba walking forward and at the last possible second, he did a simple box step and fox trotted into the shimmering pool. Everyone watching chuckled and General Hammond turned to Lena as the gate closed.

"Your husband certainly has a unique style all his own, ma'am!" he said, a laugh still evident in his voice.

Lena smiled. "You have NO idea, sir!"


	4. Meeting Kinsah

_Sorry about the long delay between chapters, everybody! Hopefully I'll be back to more regular updates. Enjoy!

* * *

As the team emerged from the gate, Nick looked around him, his brown eyes wide. "Toto, I think we're not in Kansas anymore..." he whispered._

Daniel and Jack exchanged amused glances as Teal'c scanned the perimeter.

"O'Neill." he said.

They all turned in time to see the same young man creep forward from the underbrush. He looked at them with interest, especially Nick.

"Hi." Jack said, waving to him.

"Yak." the boy replied, mimicking the movement.

Nick and Daniel snorted in amusement as Jack gave them both a look of death.

"Okay, okay, you ingrates that's enough."

Motioning to the others, Jack pointed to Daniel next. "Daniel." he stated firmly.

"Dan'el." came the quick reply.

"Good!" Jack beamed. He was about to say "Nick" when the man in question spoke up for himself.

"Nicholas." he said.

The boy's face screwed up in concentration before he finally said, "Nick'las."

Nick grinned him at before the young man turned his attention back to Jack.

"Where woman?" he asked, slowly and hesitantly.

The three men gaped at him while Teal'c regarded the lad with his usual calm, but his eyebrow was slightly raised.

"She's...at home." Jack replied.

The boy nodded. "She with child." he said wisely.

"How did you know that?" the colonel demanded.

"My mother...how say...midwife of village...have sense for birth. I have too...I never wrong."

"You talk?" Daniel asked finally, able to find his voice again.

"Not speak since 6 seasons old..." the boy replied.

Standing up straight and proud, he pointed to himself, much the same way Jack had done when he'd fist encountered SG1. "Kinsah." he said.

"That's your name? Kinsah?" Nick asked.

"Yes...what you do here?" the young man asked curiously. "You not here when others come last."

"We called him because we thought you didn't talk...he's a dancer." Daniel explained.

Kinsah's face lit up and he dashed forward, grabbing Nick by the hand. "You come! All come and see village! We have feast, much music, much dance..."

Looking over his shoulder at an amused Jack and Daniel, along with a more than slightly puzzled Teal'c, Nick allowed Kinsah to pull him along while wondering what kinds of things he would be expected to eat at this "feast"!

* * *

As soon as the men were through the gate, Sam turned to Lena and crossed her arms. "Okay Lena, I know that you aren't just staying here to keep me company...what's going on?"

Lena fidgeted slightly and finally said, "Let's just say that Jack isn't the only impending father around here..."

It took a moment for her words to sink in.

"Oh wow! You're pregnant too!" Sam asked.

The dancer smiled. "Yep!"

"Have you told Nick yet?"

They began to walk out of the gate room and head down to the infirmary. "Not yet...he's so consumed with figuring this out, plus just when I'm getting ready to tell him, a certain anthropologist comes barging in!"

Sam chuckled. "Oh, Daniel and his impeccable timing!"

"If you want to call it that!" Lena replied wryly.

* * *

That night, SG1 was treated to the hospitality of Kinsah's village. Many of them were distressed when Teal'c arrived, but through Kinsah, they were able to reassure the people that he was really an okay guy. The people didn't talk when they first arrived, but gradually they became more vocal as time went on.

Dinner was, much to Nick greatful surprise, much like any dinner you'd eat in the country on earth. After the meal, there was a lot of singing and dancing around a big bonfire which Daniel recorded with his video camera. Both he and Jack were vey amused when Nick was set upon by a group of young girls and pulled into one of the dances, but he picked it up quickly and by the end, looked like he'd been dancing that way his entire life.

Teal'c was handed the video camera when Jack and Daniel were drawn into the drum circle that was keeping beat for the dancers. Daniel noted with some suspicion that Jack knew the correct way to hold the drum and even the right way to hold his hands. He made mental note of it and decided to Jack about it later. A little more blackmail never hurt...

Once the initial round of dancing was done, other instruments were pulled out and the more advanced dancers came out. There were instruments that looked like trumpets and various other forms of brass intruments. There were people playing drums in time together, like a drum set broken down into its inidividual parts, and there was even an early piano that was pulled out!

The people wanted Nick to dance for them and after explaining to Kinsah what sort of song he wanted, he proceeded to dance a solo Cha Cha that had them cheering for him. No one was more surprised than Jack and Teal'c when Daniel started to sing a melody line in Spanish and soon, some of the younger people had joined him for this improptu sing a long.

They played, sang, and danced late into the night before they were shown to a small cave where the young men slept. They cheerfully made room for the newcomers and all of them fell asleep, Nick last of all.

* * *

Lena couldn't sleep that night for worrying about Nick and dragged herself into the cafeteria the next morning looking slightly worse for wear.

"Bad night?" a voice asked from behind her. It was Sam, looking about like she did.

"Yes...I'm used to always being with him..." she said.

"I hear you...even when Jack is on a mission, I'm with him...I don't know how I'm going to survive months of this." Sam replied frankly.

"No offense, but I don't envy you one bit as far as that's concerned!"

Sam laughed a bit and the two women turned to talk of other subjects.

* * *

SG1 rose late that morning and told Kinsah they needed to go back to their world. Jack asked him if he would like to come see it, and Kinsah jumped at the chance. He was always at Nick's side and seemed to have a particular liking for the older man.

As they came through the gate, Lena and Sam were waiting for them. Lena kissed him quickly on the cheek and like the day before, Nick felt as though something was missing but shook the feeling off and introduced her to Kinsah.

General Hammond was especially interested in the young man after he was told that Kinsah's people could speak if they chose to, and invited the boy to the debriefing.

Kinsah proved to be a valuable resource, explaining that their planet had been a target of the Goa'uld off an on for many years. About 3 generations before him, the people decided that vocal communication was too dangerous, so they devised the dance code. The young children were still taught to speak and were allowed to talk until about age 6, long enough for them to gain basic language acquisition, then they were told the reason for the "great silence" as Kinsah called it.

Once the meeting was over, Kinsah was taken to the cafeteria by Nick and shown all of the food there. There were hardly any seats, but a nice young man not too much older than Kinsah motioned them over to his table, where he was eating alone.

"Thanks for letting us sit with you...Nick Kosovich." the dancer said, extending his hand. The younger man took it and shook it heartily. "Lt. Liam Harris. Nice to meet you, Nick."

Copying Nick, Kinsah put his hand forward and said his name. Liam shook his hand as well and the three of them had an joyable lunch together. Nick learned that Liam served on SG9 and was very much into music, most particularly percussion. Kinsah offered to teach Liam some of the rhythms from his world and the young man was quite pleased at this and chuckled when Kinsah called him "Leem" because he couldn't quite say "Liam".

Liam had to leave, but wished Kinsah and Nick a good day. As they watched him leave, Kinsah turned to Nick. "Leem nice." he pronounced.

"That he is, Kinsah, that he is."

Lena and Sam walked into the cafeteria to find Nick trying to convince Kinsah to try some blue jello, but the other worlder was having none of it!

"Come on Kinsah, it's good...I promise!" Nick coaxed.

"Not eat that! It...unnatural." Kinsah replied with a shudder.

Both of the women laughed, and Nick turned to see who was behind him.

"Hello, ladies! I'm trying to convince Kinsah that blue jello is not evil, but he doesn't seem to believe me..." Nick said cheekily.

Sam reached out a hand and Nick handed the cup to her along with a spoon. She then proceeded to eat the blue jello with Kinsah watching her with an expression of horrified fascination on his face.

"See? Good." she said, setting the cup and spoon down.

Kinsah still looked very doubtful about this, but consented to finally try some and was surprised to find that it was indeed good! He tried the red jello next and told them that he preferred that to the blue.

"Ah Kinsah! The blue is the best kind!" Sam teased.

He smiled at her and replied, "You like strange thing...blue jello, Jack..."

Sam tossed some popcorn at him and and he chuckled.

"You're a cheeky one, Kinsah...you'd better be good or I'm going to have our doctor stick you with some VERY big needles!" she threatened.

Everyone laughed when he gave her a look of mock fright and even she couldn't keep a straight face anymore.

"I think Nick could use a big needle himself." Lena remarked.

Her husband merely grinned at her. "Yes, and if she touches me, Cassie would have a fit." he replied, looking extremely pleased with himself.

"Well, he is right on that one...Cassie would be VERY mad if Janet went after her precious Nick with a needle." Sam ribbed.

Nick blushed while the others laughed at his obvious discomfort.

"Hey, it's not easy being the object of female lust!" he protested.

As the women groaned and threw popcorn, Nick winked at the Kinsah and the boy threw his head back and laughed. These earth people were crazy!


	5. Kinsah and Cassie

_Sorry! It's been awhile, but I have been wrapped up in the rhinestone world of "Dancing With The Stars", featuring... Nick Kosovich! Finale is Sunday...if you want to see what he looks like, tune in to ABC at 8/7 central...boy, did that sound like a commercial!

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_

Once they had left the cafeteria, Nick invited Kinsah to come and watch him practice for Blackpool with Lena. The young man agreed enthusiastically, beaming at them. Lena was aware of a slight sense of let down at this, but attributed it to pregnancy hormones.

Kinsah was very interested and walked around them as they danced, examining them from all angles. When he saw something he recognized, he smiled broadly at them. Once they were done, Nick kindly offered to teach Kinsah a fox trot, which delighted the young man no end. He picked things up more quickly than even Cassie did and Lena was surprised by the boy's ability to emote, even though he did not know the steps all the time.

Daniel came by to collect Kinsah so the General could ask him some more questions and he could tell that there was something unresolved between Nick and Lena. Wondering what on earth it was but deciding it was none of his business, he guided the off worlder to the General's office.

Once they were gone, Nick bent down and picked up his notebooks. "See you for dinner at 6?" he asked, a smile on his face.

"Oh, Sam and I were going to do something girly tonight..." Lena replied, putting her things hurriedly in her bag. She didn't see the sad look of dissapointment cross her husband's face.

"Sounds like fun! I guess it's me, Daniel, Jack, and Kinsah for ourselves!" he joked.

"You boys have fun." Lena told him absentmindedly as she walked out of the practice room. Nick watched her go, then finally sighed and picked his notebook up. Hopefully General Hammond was done talking to Kinsah and he could talk to him some more about their dance code. He might as well do something with his time...

* * *

Kinsah was in the infirmary with Daniel when Janet came in with Cassie. She looked at Kinsah curiously and when the two adults began discussing something, she hesitantly walked over to him.

"Hi..." Cassie said.

"Hi. What name?" Kinsah asked politely.

"Cassie. "What's yours?"

"Kinsah." he replied, sticking out his hand like he had seen Nick do with Liam. Cassie chuckled, but shook his hand firmly.

"Nice to meet you...where are you from?"

He thought for a long moment. "Nick'las say I from off-world, whatever that mean."

Cassie had a thoughtful expressions cross her face. "You're not from earth?"

"No, I not."

"Neither am I!" she told him.

Kinsah considered for a long moment. "I can tell." he said. "Something different bout you than other I meet."

"You too..."

He smiled at her, and she smiled back.

"You know Nick'las?" he asked.

Cassie grinned. "Oh yeah, I know Nick!" she replied wryly.

A broad smile crossed Kinsah's face. "You LIKE Nick'las." he teased.

"Kinsah!" Cassie protested, smacking the young man lightly on the arm. He merely chuckled and continued to poke gentle fun at her. "Remind of younger sister." he said after she'd smacked him on the arm again.

"You have a sister? What's her name?" Cassie asked curiously.

"Her name Rihana...she 14 seasons old." he informed her proudly. His face fell slightly. "I miss her."

She leaned in closer to him and placed a gentle hand on his forearm. "It's okay...you'll see her again."

Kinsah nodded. "I know...but still miss."

Cassie took her other hand and gripped his softly. "I know what it's like to miss your family." she replied.

He smiled sadly at her and it was at this point that Janet happened to look over at the two of them.

"Daniel, tell me they're not..." she began.

The archaeologist twisted his head to look, then said gingerly, "Well, I wish I could say they weren't...but they are..."

"Thanks...you're a big help." she remarked sarcastically.

"What? It's not a big deal..." he protested.

"Right...just keep in mind that she's not your daughter."

Daniel smiled mischievously, attempting to distract her. "But she will be!"

Seeing through her boyfriend's obvious plot but deciding to play along, Janet allowed him to take her by the arm and turn her around so she could no longer see Cassie and Kinsah. "Just as long as they don't start going to movies..." she cautioned.

"Come on, Janet...like THAT'S ever going to happen..." Daniel scoffed.

Cassie walked up cautiously. "Hey Mom, can I have 20 bucks?" she asked, giving her mother her best "don't you love me?" smile.

"Sure Cassie... may I ask what for?" Janet replied as she dug around in her purse for the money.

"I'm taking Kinsah to the movies." the girl said cheerfully.

Janet glared at Daniel, who hastily retreated and went to his office where he proceeded to lock the door and turn on the music so he could not hear Janet pound the door later. He was glad he'd acquired some Bon Jovi and U2 from Nick...it was perfect music for such an occasion!

Turning to her daughter, Janet handed over the money with a suspicious look.

"What, Mom?" Cassie asked in a wounded tone. "It's just the movies!"

As the pair walked away, she shook her head. "That's what they all say..." she muttered.

* * *

_PLEASE...read and review?_


	6. Movie Night

_I am SUCH a schmuck for not posting anytime recently, but my friggin' muse took a vacation on me, blast it all! He's returned though, so hopefully this story will chug onward, lol! Enjoy, and PLEASE review!

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_

Janet looked at clock and paced the floor once more. It was 2 in the morning and Cassie was STILL not back from her trip to the movies with Kinsah. "I swear, when I get my hands on them, they are BOTH going to die..." she announced.

Daniel looked at her and yawned slightly. "I'm sure there's a perfectly good explanation..." he replied sleepily.

"Some help you are!"

He shrugged, and removed his glasses to rub his weary eyes. "Maybe they had a flat tire?" he offered.

Janet raised an eyebrow. "And I got her a cell phone because..."

He held up the cell phone with a wry smile on his face. "Can't call anybody if you don't have it." he replied.

"How many times have I told her to ALWAYS have it with her!"

The door opened from behind the, admitting a sheepish Cassie and her equally embarrassed partner in (supposed) crime. "Hi Mom..." Cassie began.

Daniel winced. He KNEW what was coming...and didn't envy her one iota!

"CASSANDRA FRAISER!" Janet roared.

Kinsah's eyes widened and he scooted behind Daniel, peering out from behind the archaeologist with a horrified, yet fascinated expression on his face. "She loud..." he whispered.

"Believe me Kinsah, this is nothing..." Daniel replied. "You should hear her call for Jack when it's time for his physical...you can hear her all the way on the surface!"

This made the young man chuckle a bit but he stopped immediately as Janet pegged them both with what Daniel lovingly called the "Prepare to be PULVERIZED!" look. Once certain that she had control of the room, she turned back to her cringing daughter. "How many times have I told you to take your cell phone with you, Cassie? You could have been laying outdeadin a ditch somewhere and I would never have known! Besides the fact that you were out past your curfew, young lady! What do you have to say for yourself!"

"Ummm..." Cassie began.

"Don't talk back to me young lady!"

Janet paced for a moment, then swung back to face her. "Well? Answer me!"

Kinsah poked his head around Daniel. "You not make sense..." he said.

"Was I talking to you?" Janet asked.

Kinsah wisely remained silent while Daniel said, "You know dear, he has a point."

She glared at him and he hastily added, "A SMALL point."

"You know Mom, I DO have to be up for school in 5 hours...maybe we could talk about this in the morning!" Cassie said quickly.

"It IS morning! That's the point!" Janet replied tersely.

"Ummm...I'm sorry that I was so irresponsible, and I'm REALLY sorry. I'll never do it again!" her daughter replied.

"You'd better believe you're never going to do it again! You're grounded until you're ready to get married! And so are you!" she said, turning to Kinsah.

"What is "grounded"?" Kinsah asked, more thanpuzzled.

"Bad news..." Cassie muttered.

"Oh yes, it's bad news! You're going to come to the SGC and help me file triplicates of paperwork everyday after school!"

"Mom!" Cassie cried in protest.

"And NO playing Jack's Playstation! This is punishment, not a free for all!"

Cassie gave Janet her best pleading look. "Not even 1 round of Tetris?"

"NOTHING!" came the response.

Daniel mimicked juggling behind Janet's back and Cassie giggled. Janet whirled around to find her fiance comtemplating the ground VERY intently. Turning back around, she fixed her fierce glance onto Kinsah.

"You are in BIG trouble, young man!" she fumed

Kinsah looked puzzled, which prompted the enraged doctor to say, "Don't give me that "I Don't Know What You're Talking About" look..."

"Okay Janet, I think enough is enough..." Daniel began soothingly.

She pegged him with a fierce glare, then took a deep breath. "Tomorrow after school Cassie, I will pick you up and you will begin filing paperwork for me...and Nick is going to hear about this, Kinsah!"

Janet stalked off to go to bed while Daniel, Cassie, and Kinsah watched her leave.

"Who need weapon against Goa'uld when Doctor mad?" the offworlder asked, somewhat in awe of the display he had just witnessed. Daniel and Cassie suppressed snickers and Daniel replied, "Now if we could just harness her..."

"I heard that, Daniel Elias Jackson!" came an agitated voice from above. He winced and Cassie said smugly, "Busted!"

"Yeah, yeah...go to bed. I'm going to take Kinsah back to the base. See you...later today." Daniel said, lightly hugging the girl. She then turned to Kinsah and threw her arms around him. Daniel was slightly alarmed to notice that this did not phase Kinsah the slightest bit...the boy returned her embrace and kissed her on the cheek. Oh no... he thought. Janet is going to KILL somebody...probablyme!

* * *

Nick paced Daniel's office, where he had temporarily set up residence. "I'm going to KILL that boy!" he muttered. Lena had long since gone to bed, but Nick was still up, waiting for the young man to come back.

He remembered when he was 16 and he'd tried to sneak back into the house after being out a little later than he should have...well, if you wanted to call 4:30 in the morning a LITTLE later! It had failed, of course when he knocked over something in the living room and Raddy, who was home on leave, thought he was a burgler and nearly took him out right where he stood! That had resulted in another not so pleasant exchange between him and his mother and Nick quickly thought about something else. He and his mother had not really spoken to each other since he was 12...not after what had happened to Thomas...

The door opened and he whirled around to find a sleepy eyed Daniel and a bashful looking Kinsah. He noted that the time was 2:50 in the morning.

"Where on earth have you been?" Nick demanded, his arms crossed in front of him.

Kinsah gave Daniel a panicked look and the older man chuckled. "Went to movie with Cassie." Kinsah replied.

"Since 5 o'clock? What were you doing, having an Oprah book discussion about it?" Nick asked sarcastically.

The boy looked up at him and the slightly hurt expression in his eyes reminded Nick of something from long ago and tore at his heart.

"Just...go to bed. We'll talk about it later..." he told Kinsah distractedly, his mind now a million miles away.

Daniel and Kinsah looked at each other, both of them sensing the change in the dancer's mood. Kinsah nodded, and walked over to Nick, hugging him. The ethnomusicologist embraced the young man, clinging to him for a moment before letting go and reaching up a hand to tousle his hair. "Go to bed, bad boy." Nick said in a voice of mock sternness.

The boy smiled and left the room swiftly. Daniel looked over at Nick who seemed to be in his own little world.

"Penny for them..." he said lightly.

Nick mentally shook himself and smiled wryly. "What, they're only worth that much?"

"Okay...10 cents but that's my final offer." Daniel joked.

A ghost of his usual smile worked itself over Nick's pale face and Daniel found himself wondering what was troubling his new friend. "Seriously though Nick, if you ever need to talk or anything..."

The dancer nodded. "Thanks, Daniel...I appreciate everything you've done for me the past few days." he replied softly.

Still somewhat concerned, the anthropologist nodded slowly and walked out of the office as Nick sat down in the chair behind the desk and was lost in memories until he glanced up at the clock and noticed it was 5:30 in the morning.

* * *

Lena awoke and knew immediately Nick had not come to bed. Wondering where on earth he was, she showered and dressed quickly, then went down to Daniel's office. She found him slumped over the desk, his head resting on a stack of old archeology books. He looked extremely tired and worn out and instead of waking him up, she cleared off another chair for herself and sat there, watching him as he slept.

Reaching out a gentle hand, she swept some of his errant hair out of his face and took a good look at him. HIs face was pale and even in sleep held a look of such sadness that it made her wonder what he'd been thinking about. Lena continued softly playing in his hair until he finally awoke about an hour later. "Hey.." he said, giving her a sleepy smile.

"Hey yourself...you didn't come to bed." she replied lightly.

Yawning, Nick rose to his feet, stretching his lean dancer's frame this way and that. "Yeah, I know...I guess I got distracted thinking about some stuff and fell asleep here on top of Daniel's precious books..." he replied lightly.

"What stuff?" she asked, just as airy as he had been.

He turned and walked around the desk, his back to her. "Oh, just some old times back in Australia."

She was more than surprised that he had told her this...usually Nick never spoke of his life before they had met in the States. She knew the bare details of his upbringing in Perth, but nothing more beyond that. Not even Raddeus talked about their childhood, and judging from the look on his face as he slept, those had not been very happy times for the Kosovich boys.

Deciding to accept his explination for the time being, Lena did not push. She figured that Nick would tell her when he was good and ready to.

Walking out into the hallway with him, she was slightly thrilled when he took her hand in his and held it as they made their way to the cafeteria to eat breakfast. "Did Kinsah finally come back?" she asked.

Nick smiled. "Yes he did...at almost 3 in the morning!"

Lena gaped at him. "3 in the morning?" she asked incredulously.

He nodded and a slight laugh was in his voice. "Apparently he went to the movies with Cassie...that's all I asked before I sent him to bed...I told him we'd talk about it this morning."

Kinsah was already there, seated at a table with Daniel, Jack, and Sam. He looked up guiltily at Nick and the dancer felt a surge of sympathy for the young man. He was in a strange place with strange people and strange rules so Nick decided to try and go a little easy on him.

"Hi Kinsah." he said simply as he seated himself at the table.

The young man looked somewhat surprised but replied, "Hi Nick'las."

As he began to eat his breakfast, Nick gently asked Kinsah to explain exactly what had happened and when he said that the car had gotten a flat and Cassie had to change it, the adults exchanged smiles, then outright laughed when the young man explained that Cassie had also left her cell phone at home as well."

"Ooohhh...instant trouble." Nick groaned while attempting to spear a slippery piece of sausage.

"BIG trouble." Kinsah grumbled. "I grounded and not even know what grounded be!"

The others laughed. "Grounded is when you do something wrong and you get certain privileges taken away...like if you're a child and you break something, you can't go outside and play." Nick explained.

"But I not do anything!" Kinsah protested.

"Yes, but YOU try telling that to Janet." Daniel responded dryly. Kinsah shuddered and said, "Not want other eardrum broken too!"

Sam and Lena snorted while the men outright laughed and finished their meals before heading off to their various occupations, leaving Lena feeling very lonely.

* * *

_Evil, ain't I? If you want to know what happens, just hit the button and let me know what you thought, okay?_


	7. The Pregnant Women's Club

_Okay people...here's the next chapter. I'm going to try and get this done as soon as I can, but there are several ways this story can go and I'm not exactly sure yet which way it's going to go, so please bear with me on this..._

_

* * *

_Nick worked with Kinsah over the next few days along with Daniel to get a basic idea of the planet's history and traditions. Once the dance code had been recorded, the archaeologist and ethnomusicologist were able to make a kind of dance "dictionary". The two men discovered they had much in common and were quickly becoming great friends. 

Lena had still not been able to find a good time to tell Nick about his impending fatherhood and was almost ready to put it off until Janet threatened to tell him herself which galvanized the dancer into action.

Poking her head around the corner of Daniel's office, she found him working alone. "Hi Nick...can I talk to you for a minute?" she asked casually.

He looked up at her, and a brilliant smile lit his face. "Lena! Of course...come in and have a seat!" he replied, rising to his feet and clearing off one of the chairs that held a stack of Daniel's various papers.

Smiling at the disarray around him, she seated herself on the edge of the chair and clasped her hands in front of her. Nick set his papers down and focused all of his attention on her. "What did you need to talk to me about?" he asked softly, seeing some unease in her posture. Sighing, she fidgeted for a few moments before she finally looked up at him and said simply, "Nick, I'm pregnant."

His eyes widened and he gaped at her for a few seconds before a beaming smile spread over his face and he leapt out of his seat, grabbing her hands and pulling her up out of her chair as well. He wrapped his arms around her and picked her up off the ground, twirling her around. "Whoa there...I'm a pregnant lady and therefore am kinda dizzy." she teased gently.

"I'm sorry!" Nick said anxiously. Reaching up with one hand, she gently touched his cheek. "I'm fine Nick-and so is our baby."

"Our baby..." he whispered, resting his forehead against hers.

Daniel walked in just then and saw them together. "Did you finally tell him?" Daniel asked, a twinkle in his eye.

"Dan!" Lena said protestingly.

"Oh, so everyone else knew about my child before I did?" Nick asked in a mockly wounded tone.

"Well, not everybody...the only reason I knew was because I walked into the infirmary when Janet and Lena were talking about it." Daniel answered.

"Ahhh..." Nick replied. "Then I guess you're forgiven." he said to Lena with a saucy wink.

She turned a slight shade of red and Daniel asked mockingly, "Shall I leave you two alone?"

The two of them gave the archaeologist a look and he replied quickly, "I think I've got something to do in the...infirmary...yeah..."

As he turned and began to walk out the door, Nick muttered, "Yeah, Janet."

Daniel's scandalized cry came from the hallway and the Kosovichs looked at each other. "Don't you just love the sound of a scarred Daniel in the morning?" Nick said sentimentaly. Lena laughed and disentangled herself from Nick's embrace. "You need to get back to work." she admonished. "Don't forget that you're taking Kinsah bowling tonight."

"How could I forget?" her husband replied dryly. "He's only been talking about it for 2 days!"

"He's excited, Nick...he really likes you." Lena told him.

A shadow passed over Nick's face, wiping the smile from his face for a moment. This had been happening more and more lately and Lena was beginning to wonder if she would ever know what was causing this to happen. She could see him shake himself mentally and he offered her another smile. "He's a great kid." he replied simply.

"Yeah, he is. I'll see you later for lunch." Lena replied.

And she walked out the door and turned back to see Nick bend down over his papers again, she hoped that one day, Nick would tell her what was bothering him.

* * *

Janet looked down at the test results in her hand. Ever since the incident with Kinsah, she had wondered why her moods were so out of sync with her normal way of conducting herself and now she knew why. 

Sam entered the infirmary and found Janet staring at the piece of paper in her hand. "Janet, is everything okay?" Sam asked, concerned.

The doctor looked up at her. "Is there room for one more in the pregnant women club?" she asked, sounding like she had been hit by a semi.

* * *

_Mwahaahaa! Yes, I know I am probably evil incarnate, but I had to stop somewhere and that seemed like a good spot to me! Please read and review so I know what you thought of it. Thank you for reading!_


	8. Daniel's Mostly Horrible Day

_All right kiddies...be prepared for some MAJOR angst in this chapter...hee hee hee! Please read and review so you can keep my muse happy...he's kinda high maintenance!_

* * *

Sam looked at Janet with a more that stunned expression on her face. "You mean you're..." she began.

Janet smiled. "Yep...looks like you're going to have some company!"

"Oh wow...the poor boys! They're going to have to put up with three of us!" Sam replied with a chuckle. "Eh, that's all right... it will be character building for them." Janet said smugly.

The two women laughed at this statement and walked out to go get some food. They ran into Lena who was going to go get Nick. "You know...since Daniel knew about our child before Nick did, I think that turnabout would only be fair play..." the dancer mused, a distinctly evil smile on her face.

Janet nodded thoughtfully. "You're right, Lena...we want this to be fair."

* * *

As soon as Lena left, Nick cast his papers aside. His mind was a swirling mass of confusion and as he placed his head in his hands, he wondered if the malestorm inside him would ever be completely calm. Sighing heavily, he tried not to remember back to the one single event that had altered the course of his life forever. As he rubbed his temples, a knock came on his door and he looked up. It was Daniel.

"Hey Nick...are you okay?" Daniel asked, concerned. He was not at all prepared for Nick's response of, "I don't know anymore Daniel."

He sank down into a seat across from him, heedless of the stack of papers on it. "I know we haven't exactly known each other for a long time..." the archaeologist began, "but I'd like to think that you and I are friends...and as a friend, I'm asking...what's wrong, Nick?"

Taking a few deep breaths, Nick raised his head and looked at Daniel, who hadn't seen such a look of absolute pain in someone's eyes in a long time. The Aussie contemplated him for a few moments before he finally nodded. "I...was 12 years old when it happened..."

Before he could get any further, the women showed up. Nick quickly schooled his features into a pleasant smile and Daniel knew the moment was lost. "GAH!" he yelled, flinging his hands into the air. "Don't you people have any concept of timing?"

"That's rich coming from you!" Lena flung back. The two of them glared at each other for a long moment before Daniel stalked out of his office. He didn't know where he was going, but all he knew was he wanted to get away from those infernal women for awhile!

The women looked at each other and Janet started sobbing. Nick's eyebrows raised in alarm and he came around from behind Daniel's desk. "I'm sure he didn't mean to yell like that..." he said soothingly. "Oh sure, stick up for him..." his wife muttered.

Nick turned and looked at her, a hardened expression on his face. "Well excuse me...obviously you don't know me very well, do you?" "Well maybe if you'd actually talk, I would!" Janet was so shocked by their tones that she stopped crying and stood there, her jaw open.

Sam then looked at her. "Ummm...I think now would be a GREAT time to depart!" Sam whispered. Janet nodded and the two of them raced away as quickly as they could

The Kosovichs still stood there in standoff mode, both of them glaring. "I'm getting sick of waiting around for you to decide to tell me things, Nicholas." she said icily. "Perhaps if you even had any idea of what I've had to suffer, you wouldn't be so quick to ask me to talk about it!" he replied, his teeth clenched. "Then tell me!" she cried, tears beginning to flow freely down her face.

Nick closed his eyes, then re-opened them, a wounded expression on his face. "I would if I could...don't you get that? Do you honestly think I enjoy keeping this from you? That I've liked carrying this around with me for the last 20 years of my life?"

"Yes, Nicholas, I do...at least some small part of you must like it...otherwise, you'd have told me about it a long time ago." she replied quietly. They stared at each other for a long moment, then she turned and walked out of the office.

He watched her go, then turned, his hand clenched into a fist. Striding forward, his eyes stinging with angry tears, he punched the concrete wall as hard as he could. As the waves of pain crept up his arm, Nick allowed himself to slump down until he was sitting on the floor, his back pressed up against the wall. Resting his head on his good hand, he wondered what he was going to do now.

* * *

Sam and Janet were almost to Sam's lab when they ran into Jack. "Hey ladies...what's wrong?" he asked, noticing the looks on their faces. Janet looked at him for a few seconds, then burst into tears again and ran for the infirmary.

"Did I say something?" Jack asked, more than puzzled.

"Don't. Ask." Sam replied firmly.

"I'm...sorry?"

Sam chuckled. "Janet went to go tell Daniel that she was pregnant and before she got the chance, he yelled at her. Then we got to witness the beginnings of a pretty ugly fight between Nick and Lena..."

Jack let out a low whistle. "Nick and Lena are fighting?"

"Oh yeah..."

He thought for a moment. "Janet's pregnant?"

Sam smacked her forehead with her palm, a gesture she'd begun borrowing from Nick. "You didn't hear that..." she said.

"Hear what?" he said as he pulled her into his embrace.

She closed her eyes and allowed her head to rest on his shoulder. "I love you."

"Yeah, yeah...that's what they all say when I hold them upright." he joked.

"Them?" she asked teasingly.

"Well...maybe I exaggerated a little..."

"Right..." she replied.

"Don't even THINK of bringing Kynthia or Laira up, or I shall be forced to use the tickle torture method..." he threatened.

"On the woman carrying your child?" Sam asked, an eyebrow raised in a manner reminiscent of her father.

Jack looked at her, a disturbed look on his face. "Don't EVER do that again...you looked like Jacob." he shuddered.

"Well, I DO take after my father..."

"Yeah yeah yeah...just promise me that our little one will NOT take after you dad...no offense or anything."

"None taken." a voice answered from behind him.

Jack closed his eyes. "Somebody shoot me now?"

"Dad!" Sam said, disentangling herself from Jack's embrace.

Her father raised an extremely snarky eyebrow. "What was that about your little one, Jack?"

"I plead the 5th on this one!" he replied quickly.

"Oh no Jack, you aren't getting out of it THAT easily!" Sam said, putting her hands on her hips. "You tell him right now...after all, YOU did this to me!"

"I'm relieved to hear it..." Jacob replied dryly.

The O'Neills stared at him, not knowing how to take this.

"What? I'm waiting for my dividends to come in!" Jacob told them smugly.

"Not again with the dividends!" Sam groaned. Jack looked at her in surprise. "So what are we, a Fortune 500 or something?"

"Pretty much." came the quick response from Jacob. This earned him a glare from his daughter and he decided that it would be good for his health if he stopped now...if Sam was anything like her mother, those hormones would be the death of him, AND his son-in-law!

* * *

After he'd had some time to calm down, Daniel knew he needed to go find Janet and apologize. He'd heard the nurses gossiping about her crying in her office and knew with a sinking feeling that he'd been the cause of it.

Come on, face it like a man...he told himself. But I want to live! the other part of his brain said.

Get stuffed! I've got to do this.

Taking a few deep breaths, Daniel entered the infirmary. He got glares from all of the women there, and just as he was almost to enter Janet's office, a VERY angry looking Lena stopped him. "What do you want?" she growled.

Daniel's eyes widened in alarm. "I...came to apologize for being such a jerk."

"You've got that right."

He looked down at the ground. "I'm here to talk to Janet, Lena." he replied softly.

"She's in there...but I swear, if you make her cry again, I will castrate you myself!"

"Duly noted." Daniel replied, gulping.

He opened the door and found Janet sitting at her desk, a large box of Puffs in hand. She looked up to see who it was, then swivled her chair around so her back was to him. "Go away." she sniffed.

"Janet..." he began.

Just then, the door opened, revealing one of the nurses. "Dr. Fraiser, Dr. Kosovich needs your help. He seems to have broken his hand."

She got to her feet. "We will continue this conversation later." she told Daniel loftily.

As soon as the door closed, Daniel allowed himself a quiet "ARGH!". Today was SO not his day!

* * *

Janet picked up her bag and made her way to Daniel's office. There, she found Nick slumped against the wall, staring off into space.

"Nick?" she asked hesitantly. He flicked his gaze up to her, then returned to looking off into space somewhere.

"Heard you have a broken hand. Mind if I take a look at it?"

He shrugged and Janet was beginning to become slightly alarmed by his behavior. Opening her bag, she knelt down at his side and began examining his hand. He didn't even make one sound of pain as she did so.

"You broke it, all right." she told him. Again, he looked at her for a second, then looked away.

"We need to go to the infirmary so I can bind it."

He rose obediently to his feet, still saying nothing. Janet was becoming unnerved by this silent, unresponsive Nick and wondered if she needed to place a call to Dr. MacKenzie. This was not normal behavior for anyone.

As they walked in, Lena looked up and her eyes softened slightly when she caught sight of Nick's injured hand. He, however, did not even glance once in her direction. The pain in her heart was so intense, she could not stay there any longer so she went in search of Sam, wondering if they could watch some tear jerking chick flick.

The minute Janet was finished with Nick's hand, he hopped off the cot and started to walk out. Janet shook her head, wondering what to do next.

Daniel poked his head around the corner. "May I enter?" he asked.

"Sure." she replied.

He shuffled in, looking at the ground. "Look Janet...I was a jerk earlier and I freely admit that...Nick was about to tell me what was bugging him right when you guys walked in and I wigged, not that that makes it okay."

She gave him a tight smile. "I don't know what to do for him..."

He sighed heavily. "He's my friend, and I hate seeing him like this...honestly Janet, I haven't seen pain like that in someone's eyes since...well, since I met Jack after he lost Charlie."

"Unless he chooses to talk, there's not a lot we can do." Janet told him, shaking her head as she sat down on the cot.

"Enough about Nick...what did you need to tell me?" he asked gently.

"Hmmm?"

Daniel gave her a look. "Janet, you're a horrible liar."

A wave of nausea swept over her and she made a mad dash to pray to the porcelain god. As she leaned over the bowl, she felt someone sweep her hair back from her face and rub her back in slow circles.

"Sorry..." she said when she was finished.

"Don't be."

Sighing, she rested her head against his chest. "I guess I've got another 2 months of this to look forward to." she joked weakly.

Daniel's brow furrowed. "What?" he asked faintly.

"Hi Daddy." she replied.

His eyes went wide, then a sweet smile swept over his face. "Really?" he asked, hardly daring to believe it.

She nodded, melting further into his embrace. He nervously placed a trembling hand on her stomach. "Wow..."

"You said it."

He looked into her eyes. "I love you."

"Even when I'm puking my toenails up?" she asked.

Daniel grinned. "Even then."


	9. Nick's Story

_Okay...for those of you how have been curious about exactly what happened to Nick...HERE IT IS! Please read and review so I know what you thought of it. Thanks!_

_

* * *

_  
Lena had succeeded in finding Sam and the pair went off to a multi-purpose room leaving Jack alone with Jacob. They chatted pleasantly about this and that as they made their way down the corridor toward Jack's office. Rounding the corner, Jack was shocked to see Nick Kosovich sitting with his back against the wall and staring off into space. 

"Hey Nick..." he said cautiously. The dancer's gaze went up to him, then back down. Jacob came and stood beside his son-in-law. "Isn't that your Ballroom Bootcamp coach?" he asked, a look of concern on his face. He wasn't even going to ask what the man was doing there, since both he and Selmak figured it would be a long story that they currently didn't have time for.

Jack nodded, and crouched down near Nick. "Come on Nick, what's going on?"

Closing his eyes for a moment, Nick turned his head and met Jack's gaze head on. Jack could see great pain in Nick's eyes and the dancer could see recognition and understanding in Jack's. Something in Nick's eyes softened for a moment, then he nodded. Jack took this as an unspoken agreement that meant Nick was ready to tell him what was going on.

Looking at Jacob, Jack jerked his head and Jacob came to Nick's other side. The two men lifted him to his feet and guided him into Jack's office where he sank into a chair like a large sack of potatoes. Jacob gave Jack a slight smile as he closed the door behind him, leaving Jack alone with the troubled ethnomusicologist.

"Anytime you're ready Nick..." Jack said gently. The man in question rubbed his eyes fiercely and took several deep breaths. "I was 12 years old...it was a Tuesday afternoon at about 4 o'clock. My mother had gone to the grocery store across town to pick up some things and Raddeus had a date. My father had left soon after I turned 4 which left me the only one at home that day...with my little brother Thomas Jordan."

Jack's eyebrows raised. "Your little brother?" he asked. Nick nodded and a few tears escaped his eyes. He took a moment to compose himself, then went on. "He was 10 years old and I was his idol...he wanted to be just like me." he said with a derisive snort. "Tommy was sitting at the kitchen table doing his math homework and I was in the living room watching t.v. It was some popular teen show at the time...I can't even remember the name of it now, but my after school life revolved around it, and dancing. Anyway, I was watching this show and Tommy came in. He wanted me to play Battleship with him, but I told him no, I was watching my show and he needed to get his homework done. He asked and asked until I finally lost it..."

Nick rose to his feet and paced in front of Jack's desk. "I...told him to go away and leave me the hell alone." he choked out. Collapsing back into the chair he'd been sitting in, the ethnomusicologist's shoulders shook as he began to cry. Jack watched the dancer for a moment, unsure of what to say or do. Then, he closed his eyes, wondering what he would have done if Charlie or Daniel were sitting in front of him. He reached over and put his hand on Nick's shoulder, pulling the dancer into a gentle paternal embrace. "Let it out, Nick...just let it out."

The weeping man clung to him as though Jack was his lifeline and the colonel wondered what on earth had happened to Thomas. He held Nick for several moments until the younger man's tears began to slow and his grip on Jack loosened. "Are you going to be able to continue?" Jack asked seriously, pulling back and looking Nick straight in the eye. He nodded, and Jack scooted back into his chair, awaiting the next installment.

Wiping at his face with his sleeve, Nick said hoarsely, "I continued to watch my show as Tommy trudged back into the kitchen. At the commercial though, I knew I'd been an idiot and decided to go apologize to him. I called to him and got no answer. I listened for a moment, thinking he was ignoring me, then I realized that the kitchen was too quiet to have a 10 year old in it. I got up and went to the kitchen to find no Tommy and the back door open."

He clenched his good fist and went on. "I thought that he'd gone outside to get me in trouble...we all knew that unless Mom was home, we couldn't go outside. I walked out into the backyard and called him name a few times, thinking he was hiding in the bushes and wanted to pop out at me. He didn't answer and I wondered if he'd been so mad that he walked down to his friend Adam's house to REALLY get me into trouble. I started walking down the alley when I heard the train whistle and the brakes squealing..."

The dancer's body began to shake and Jack winced, knowing in his heart how this story ended, much like Charlie's own tragic end. "We lived near the train tracks and there was no fence. I had this...sick feeling in the pit of my stomach and I just knew. I ran as fast as I could go down to the tracks...but it was too late."

Placing his head in his left hand, Nick's tears returned. "I got there in time to see them lift his body off the tracks..."

"Nick, it wasn't your fault." Jack told him softly.

His head jerked up, "Yes it was! If I'd just played one game of Battleship with him, my little brother would still be here!" Nick screamed. He began sobbing again and Jack again pulled him into a tight hug. "No one should have to bury their little brother..." the dancer whispered. "I know Nick... I know." Jack replied. "No one should have to bury their son either."

Nick pulled away and looked at him in surprise. "What?"

Jack heaved a heavy sigh. He hadn't told this story in a few years...he hadn't really needed to. "My son found my personal sidearm and accidentally shot himself. I was understandably suicidal afterward and believe it or not, I shouldn't have survived my first trip through the Stargate."

Jack waited while Nick processed this truckload of information and he thought back to his first trip to Abydos. He owed a hell of a lot more than he would outwardly admit to the geeky archaeologist who had allowed him to call him a friend. "Nick, Lena's very worried about you...heck, we're all worried about you."

The dancer closed his eyes in regret. "I just...haven't been able to think very clearly since I found out that she was..."

"Pregnant? Believe me, I'm filled with doubts myself. Would I make the same mistake? Would my marriage to Sam end the same way my marriage to Sara ended? It's not a pretty thought, but I'm talking through it with Sam. If there was one thing I learned from my experiences pre-Stargate, it's that I need to have a more open relationship with my wife than I'm comfortable with. She needs to know EVERYTHING about me, I can't just assume that she knows everything that she needs to know. And I'm talking about every thought I have about any woman other than her included..."

Nick chuckled. "I doubt very much I'd survive any thoughts about any other woman besides her...especially with the hormones!"

Jack allowed a small smile, but turned wisely and said: "If you don't say anything about having thoughts about other women, they assume that you are dangerously in denial. They'll cut you some slack for being male, but if you don't admit to having any thoughts, they'll assume the worst. Even if you really don't see any other woman they way you see them."

"And this ties in...how?"

"Does Lena know about Thomas?"

The dancer bowed his head. "No." He whispered, shamefully.

"Nick, if you don't talk to her, your marriage won't last the end of the year...I can almost guarantee it. I was married to Sara for ten years when Charlie died, and I shut her off. With our early years of marriage built around my black ops operations, this became the proverbial straw, but...that's a cliche and you know how much I LOVE cliche..." Jack said, rolling his eyes.

This elicited a weak laugh from Nick and Jack went on. "Anyway, by the time I came back from Abydos the first time, she'd already left and that's how I learned to talk. It wasn't easy, but after waiting eight years for Sam, I knew that it was worth it. She knows everything...black ops days included. It wasn't easy, and it wasn't pretty, but at least it's all out in the open. That's the best way for it to be."

Nick sighed and rubbed his temple with his good hand. "Yes Jack, but how do you tell your wife that the man she married doesn't even know who he is anymore? That he tried to start over as a new person and now the old and the new are clashing? I don't know how to make the two parts of my life meld..."

Jack threw his hands up in the air. "I can't give you the answers to that, Nick...it's your life and YOU are the one who's going to have to figure that out...but you don't have to do it alone. Lena wants to help you Nick...she loves you more than you'll probably ever know...talk to her and let her into your past."

"Easier said than done..." Nick said. "When you've been hiding something for 20 years, you're not very keen on letting it be known."

"If I can ask Nick, why hide it?"

"Because it tore my family apart..." the dancer replied. "When my mother finally got home, she found one of the train engineers waiting for her. The paramedics had come but there was nothing they could do for Tommy." He breathed a few more times, then got a faraway look in his eyes. "I was standing there, just...staring at the train tracks until she came. I called out to her, wanting her to hug me, to tell me that it wasn't my fault."

Wiping his eyes again, Nick trudged onward. "She...gave me this look, and then she walked away from me...after that, we hardly spoke to each other. The last time we actually had a conversation was when I broke curfew at age 16."

"You haven't spoken to your mother in 14 years?" Jack asked, shocked.

"No...I could tell that she hated me and blamed me for Tommy's death." the dancer said, a note of finality in his voice.

"Nick, I don't mean to sound like a stooge, but she's your mother...how could she hate you?"

"How could she walk away from me when I needed her most?" Nick whispered. "Her entire side of the family shunned me and poor Raddy was left to try and keep everything together. He gave up a lot, just so I could go to college. I graduated early, when I was 16 and started taking college classes soon after. I left for my junior and senior year to attend university at Princeton, then I went up to New York to attend Julliard and it was then while I was getting my ethnomusicology degree that I met Lena. We began dancing together and married a year later."

Jack sat back in his chair. "Nick, you have two people you need to talk to; Lena, and your mother." "I don't want to talk to my mother." came the stubborn reply.

"That's the answer of a scared 12 year old boy who just wanted his mom to comfort him...you need to be the 32 year old man who's going to do what it takes to fix his life." the colonel said bluntly.

"I suppose you're right...thanks for listening to me, Jack."

As he watched Nick leave the room, Jack hoped with everything he had that something he'd said had sunk in. He didn't want Nick to have to go down the same road he had...


	10. Confessions

_Okay okay...I am an awful excuse for an author, but between college and everything else that's gone on, my freaking muse decided to take a vacation on me, dangit! Anyway, major props/bowage go to Rose Stetson for helping me out with the Sam/Jack scene in this chapter. You roc my sox woman!

* * *

_

Sam could tell that Lena wasn't really into the chick flick, but kept it on anyway. She watched the other woman from out of the corner of her eye and wondered what was troubling Nick so badly. She heard the door open slowly and turned around to see Nick poke his head around the corner of the door. She was about to welcome him, but he held up a finger to his lips and shook his head. He motioned her leaving the couch and him taking her place. Sam understood immediately what he meant and rose to her feet stealthily as Nick crept forward into the room, his steps smooth and soundless.

As he passed her, he gave her a grateful smile. Sam could see the evidence of his earlier tears on his face and placed a gentle hand on his good arm. She gave him a questioning look, and he nodded. Instinctively, she knew everything he wasn't saying. Punching him lightly on the shoulder, she left the room.

Looking before him, Nick closed his eyes and allowed himself to breathe. This was not going to be easy, but she deserved to know...

* * *

After wandering around for awhile and generally getting in everyone's way, Jacob went into the cafeteria to find Kinsah eating candy with Liam. Looking up, Liam snapped to his feet. "General Carter." he said briskly, giving a sharp salute. The older man returned it in an amused fashion. "At ease son...

Liam took his seat with a look of embarrassment on his face and Jacob felt a surge of sympathy for the young man. "What's your name?" he asked kindly.

"Lt. Harris." came the quick reply.

Jacob raised an eyebrow and said with mock seriousness. "Your mother named you lieutenant? What's going to happen when you change rank?"

A chuckle escaped the young man and he shook his head. "Liam Harris."

"A pleasure to meet you, Liam...please, call me Jacob."

The two shook hands and Kinsah looked confused.

"Who this, Leem?" he asked.

"A great leader of our people, Kin." Liam supplied.

"And Samantha Car-O'Neill's father."

Liam smiled at the near slip while Kinsah studied the man in question for a long moment. "What happen to hair?" Kinsah demanded.

"It's called having two kids and getting old."

Kinsah reached up and put a hand on top of his head. "Not look forward to be old." he said seriously.

Jacob chuckled as Liam fixed his eyes on his Hershey bar and wisely said nothing!

* * *

As "You've Got Mail" drew to its happy close, Lena dabbed at her eyes with a tissue. "That movie always makes me cry." she sniffed.

"I know." a distinctly un-Sam like voice replied from her left.

Her head snapped in the direction of this surprise and found Nick seated on the other couch, his gaze fixed on her. "Hi." he said simply.

"Hi...what are you doing here? Not that I mind or anything..." she said quickly.

Looking down at the ground, Nick composed himself before rising to his feet. "I came to tell you what happened."

She raised an eyebrow. "You? Talk?"

He sighed. "It happens every once in a while." he joked weakly but Lena could hear an underlying tone of hurt in his voice and decided to cut him a LITTLE slack.

"Well, are you going to stand there, or are you going to come sit by me?" she asked.

As he took a seat and made himself comfortable, Lena could see that he had been crying. "Nick, what happened?" she asked.

"I talked to Jack." he replied.

"You talked...to Jack?"

"Guess he's been where I am." Nick replied.

Looking at him, Lena placed a gentle hand on his injured arm. He covered her hand with his good one and exhaled slowly. "I'm going to just be blunt and say it." he began. "Okay." she replied.

"I had a little brother who died." he stated bleakly.

Lena stared at him. "Little brother?" she asked in disbelief.

"I was 12 years old..."

* * *

The alien device was sitting on the lab table just begging Sam to come take it apart and see how it worked. Walking toward it with an almost manic gleam in her eye, she was stopped by the sound of Jack's voice.

"Samantha..." he said.

She turned to find Jack with a serious look on his face standing in the doorway.

"Jack, is everything okay?" she asked.

Exhaling heavily, he strode further into her lab and shut the door. "I just got done talking with Nick."

Sam raised both eyebrows. "He talked?"

"Yes, he did and to make a long story short, his little brother died when he was 12 and he's been thinking that it was his fault for the last 20 years." He gave a mirthless chuckle. "I'd know all about blaming yourself, wouldn't I?"

"We don't have to talk about this right now if you don't want to..." she began.

"Sam, it doesn't really matter if I want to or not...this needs to be talked about BEFORE our child is born..."

"Okay. But let's move this to our quarters. You never know when Felger's going to come in asking for my 'expert opinion.'"

They walked down the hallways and into their room. "So..." She prompted.

"I never really told you what happened, did I?"

"No."

"Two weeks before he died, I came home and found him in his little cardboard fort in the backyard. He jumped out with a water gun and pointed it at me. He pretended to pull the trigger and told me that I was dead."

She gasped.

"I told him that guns weren't toys, and got really cross with him. He ran inside, and we didn't play catch. Little did I know that would have been the last time we could have played catch."

"Jack, you couldn't have known." She said, softly as she placed her fingers on his hand.

"The day he died, I was supposed to take Charlie to a baseball game." A nostalgic smile graced his face. "He loved baseball. Anyway, I was on my way back from the base, but I was a little late. I had a few reports that I hadn't quite finished..."

She smiled. "Nothing changed there."

"Anyway, I got there, and I found Sara on the porch. She was doing some gardening and I snuck up on her."

Sam was trying not to feel jealous as he told her of his relationship with Sara. After all, she was his ex-wife. But on the other hand, she could tell that he still had a tender place in his heart for her.

"Well, she showed me Charlie's school pictures when we heard the gunshot."

She heard the catch in his voice and waited for him to collect himself before he continued. "We raced up the stairs. By the time we reached him, he was on the floor of our room, the blood..."

He took a deep breath. "We took him to the emergency room, but by then, it was too late. He died only ten minutes after we made it there. In fact, it was the same hospital that we saw Sara at a few years ago, you know...when that energy thing decided to be my twin."

Tears were in Sam's eyes as she recalled the event. _He had emerged from the emergency room with a small boy, causing Sara to start crying. "Charlie."_

_"Sara, this isn't Charlie."_

It was her first glimpse into how tender Jack O'Neill could be. She was sitting on the bed, and motioned for him to come to her. It was time for them to switch roles. "C'mere." He walked trepidaciously toward her and she tenderly held him as he let the tears fall. "Sam, I never want to go back there." He said, hoarsely.

"You don't have to." She whispered.

"I'm not talking about Chicago, Sam. I'm talking about that place. Where I didn't think life was worth living. Where I couldn't even appreciate the beautiful things in my life."

She swallowed down a few tears. "You don't have to go back there." She promised.

* * *

"...and after my mother left, I just stood there for hours until Rad finally came and took me home." Nick finished, wiping at his eyes for the second time that day. "Nick, why didn't you tell me?" Lena asked gently.

He shook his head slowly. "Once I left Australia, I wanted to make a new life for myself, one where people didn't look at me pityingly or whisper about me as I walked past. I wanted a life where I was just like everyone else, not...marked and set apart for what had happened to Tommy."

Rising to his feet, Nick paced. "No one ever really talked about it...my extended family came and I was pretty much shunned by them."

"They shunned you for something that wasn't even your fault?" his wife cried, outraged. He smiled sadly at her and she could see some of Nick's childhood self breaking through. "I was supposed to watch him..." he whispered.

Standing up, Lena turned Nick around to face her. "Yes, but you were only 12 years old, Nick! How could you have known this was going to happen?"

The pain and grief etched on his face tore her heart worse than anything and she longed to give him even a small measure of comfort. "It still hurts so much..." he choked.

"Of course it does...you loved him."

Closing his eyes, Nick breathed evenly. Lena was tired of watching him try to put up a brave front again and stepped forward, pulling her husband into a gentle embrace. She could feel how tense he was and held him that much closer to her. Wrapping his arms around her, Nick allowed himself to put his head on her shoulder, momentarily leaning on her. Little by little, the tenseness in Nick's body ebbed away along with the defenses he had built up over the years until she had a sobbing, heartbroken Nick in her arms.

"I'm not going anywhere..." she said quietly as his crying eventually slowed. Raising his head, he gazed at her for a long moment. "What did I do to deserve you?" he asked tenderly. Taking a hand, Lena gently wiped his face. "Who says you deserve me?" she asked, one eyebrow raised. This made him chuckle and she thought that she had never heard a more beautiful sound.

"Are you okay?" she queried. He smiled at her, and she realized that for the first time since she'd known him, his smile was in his eyes too. "Not completely yet...but I'm starting to get there."

* * *

_As usual, please read and review so that I know what you thought of it. Thanks!_


	11. Surprises

_Thanks go to Rose Stetson who so kindly wrote just about this whole chapter when I was stricken with a BAD case of writer's block. There's only going to be one more chapter after this...then on to the third story! When I started Ballroom Bootcamp, I had only planned on there being two stories. So much for the best laid plans of mice and men, eh?

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_

Nick walked into the cafeteria late that night after his conversation with Lena, feeling like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. He was looking for some of that elusive chocolate cake that Jack was always talking about. After all, he was taking a tiny break from his dancing, so...one piece of cake couldn't hurt, could it?

He found the piece of forbidden fruit and proceeded to walk over to one of the tables when he happened to look over and find Kinsah sitting by himself. Something about the young man's solemn demeanor reminded him of another young teenager who had needed a shoulder to lean on.

"Hey, Kinsah!" He said, walking over.

The alien looked up and attempted to smile. "Hi."

"What's up?"

He got a puzzled look in return before Kinsah looked toward the fluorescent lights fastened to the ceiling. "Lights." Was the simple reply.

Nick chuckled. "I know...it's a phrase that means what's going on? How are you? You know, stuff like that."

Kinsah nodded, wisely. "I fine."

Nick raised an eyebrow. "All right. If you say so..."

"I just..." Kinsah began, though he hesitated halfway through. "I miss home."

"I'm sure you do." Nick said, realizing that everyone had simply enjoyed his company, not asking him whether or not he wanted to continue staying at the SGC.

"Miss fall."

"Fall? It's autumn on your planet?"

"The orange grasses...they beautiful now..."

Nick began thinking about the unique beauty of Australia. The young boy part of him missed the mountainous desert that was his home.

"I also miss for...how you say...promised one."

This shook Nick out of his reverie. "Promised one?"

"Joining ceremony in...three weeks."

"You're getting married?" Nick asked, surprised.

Kinsah nodded, miserably. "I miss Sauna."

"Well, have you told anyone about this?"

"Cassie want play joke on Mother."

"What joke?" Nick asked, cautiously.

"Want make her think we love each other."

"That could be dangerous, Kinsah...you sure about this?"

A spark of the old Kinsah returned. "Not have much choice."

"All right, so...when's this joke supposed to happen?"

"Tomorrow. I give Cassie ring. On planet means friendship, but...put on finger that means one is joined or going to be joined. Make Dr. Fraiser squirm."

Nick smiled. "I won't say anything. But by tomorrow afternoon, you should be able to go home."

"Thank you, Nik'las. You good friend."

Nick's mind started to wander again. "Thanks, Kinsah. I...I needed to hear that."

* * *

The next morning, Sam, Lena, and Janet sat in Sam's lab, forcing down some saltine crackers and juice while the men had a proper breakfast. "You know, it's so unnerving to realize that I am no longer predictable to Jack or myself." Sam said, taking a tiny bite of the cracker.

"I know, it's so frustrating. Almost like...like being another person." Lena said. "Except you have the same memories, but none of the same reactions. It's starting to drive me crazy."

"I don't know. It's like I'm constantly overreacting." Janet agreed.

"Like about Cassie and Kinsah and the Lord of the Rings marathon?" Sam asked, an amused smile on her face.

"Yes, actually." Janet said, looking at her long-time friend. "But it started before that. I'm...I'm just afraid that she's going to get attached to Kinsah. I mean, he's an alien after all. He's got to go back to his planet soon."

"Well, he is kind of exotic." Lena pointed out. "It's only natural for her to be enamored by him."

"Exotic?" Sam asked. "And you would know from...experience?"

"Maybe." Lena replied, loftily. "I married an Aussie, didn't I?"

The women shared a laugh before Sam continued. "And...Cassie isn't exactly from around here, Janet. She's bound to feel a connection to Kinsah simply because they're both off-worlders."

"Cassie's an off-worlder?" Lena asked, surprised.

"She was the only survivor of a goa'uld attack on her homeworld. Janet adopted her, but all of the members of SG-1 have a tender place in their hearts for her." Sam said, quickly.

"Sam's being modest. She's the one who saved Cassie and Earth from a Goa'uld attack." Janet said with a smile.

"Really?"

"Anyway," Sam cut in, clearing her throat. "It was probable that she would be attracted to one of the other aliens that we brought through the Gate."

"Besides, we don't know if it's a one-way or a two-way attraction." Lena interjected. "I know that I have had one-sided crushes on plenty of guys. Surely that could be the case here."

"And it could be either Cassie or Kinsah." Sam added.

Janet smiled. "Thanks. That really does help."

"No problem." Sam said, rising to begin her day's work. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to look over some reports from Dr. Felger and Dr. Lee. Make sure they haven't made any stupid mistakes lately..."

"Well, I can guarantee that Felger made one yesterday. Chloe brought him into the infirmary. He had a concussion and a few broken ribs. I don't know what exploded in his lab, but it was a doozie." Janet added.

Sam sighed. "Thanks. At least Lee's better than Felger."

"Well, that's small consolation if what I've heard about them both is accurate." Lena said, a smile playing on her lips.

Sam took a visible deep breath and eyed the stack of reports on her desk. "I guess I should just get it over with, huh?"

"That's what I would do." Lena said, supportively.

"Thanks, but...I kind of have to proceed alone."

"Bye." The other two ladies said.

* * *

Janet and Lena walked toward the infirmary where they were met by Liam Harris. "Dr. Fraiser, Mrs. Kosovich. How are you both today?"

They smiled. "We're fine." Janet said, looking at Lena before she answered.

"Good. Dr. Fraiser, Cassie's in the infirmary waiting for you. She said something about forgetting that there wasn't any school and hanging out with Kinsah..."

She sighed. "Thank you, Lieutenant."

They walked into the infirmary to hear giggling coming from Janet's office. She turned a skeptical eye to Lena who shrugged. "Please tell me that's one of my nurses with Sgt. Siler..."

"I wish I could..." Lena said with a thin smile.

Janet walked toward her office trepidaciously. As she approached it, she could clearly see Cassie and Kinsah in her office. She closed her eyes and took a visible deep breath. "Oh, God, grant me the strength to deal with this..." She whispered under her breath.

She walked in. "Oh, Cassie, Kinsah. What are you doing in here?"

"I just came to hang out with Kinsah. I mean, he must be getting tired of being around all of you when you're all working on something or another." Cassie said, looking at her mother.

"Right." She said with a tight smile. "Well, you know, honey, you could have waited for me outside of my office."

"Oh, I know, but...I don't know, there's just something about your office..."

Suddenly, the small daisy chain ring on her daughter's left ring finger caught her eye. "Oh my god!" She said, faintly.

"What?" Cassie asked, concerned.

Janet passed out before she could properly ask any other questions.

* * *

Janet awoke to have Daniel's concerned face over hers. "Daniel?" She asked, still in shock.

"You're fine, Janet. Just...calm down."

She nodded. "What...?"

"We were hoping that you could tell us. Cassie says that she was talking to you about being in your office and you passed out."

Janet's head was still spinning, and Daniel's words were barely registering in her mind. "Cassie?"

"Yep. She and Kinsah were going to hang out here on the base today."

Suddenly, everything came back to her and she jolted upright. "They're engaged!"

"What?" Daniel asked, confused, helping her lay back down.

"Cassie and Kinsah! She was giggling, they...I saw...the ring!"

"Ring?" Daniel asked.

"Kinsah told me that it was a sign of friendship in his culture." Nick clarified.

"I don't think either he or Cassie meant to make it look like they were engaged." Daniel said, letting his thumb glide gently across her hand.

She took a deep breath. "I'm just overreacting again." She said, closing her eyes. "Damn hormones!"

"Actually, I think I owe you an apology, Janet." Nick said after a few moments of awkwardness.

She looked at him, strangely. "Why?"

"Because Kinsah told me about Cassie's idea. I should have realized that it was a bad idea."

"This was all a joke?" Janet asked, trying to clear her vision by blinking her eyes.

"I apologize too." Kinsah said, feeling and looking duly apologetic. "I make ring for Cassie. I mean as friendship ring, but she want make you think we promised."

Janet closed her eyes with an embarrassed smile on her face.

"Mom, if I'd known you were going to pass out, I wouldn't have done it." Cassie explained. "I just thought that it was funny when you overreacted the other night."

"Well...I think we're all a little on edge with the number of changes that have hit the fan." Daniel said, trying to calm both Janet and Cassie down.

"What kind of changes?" Cassie asked, an oblivious teenaged girl.

Janet winced. They still hadn't told Cassie that she was pregnant. Perhaps, if she had known she wouldn't have even thought of pulling the prank. "Cass, I haven't had a chance to tell you..."

"What your mom's trying to say..." Daniel began.

All of the adults in the room squirmed. None of them quite knew how to tell one of their kids that they were going to have a sibling. After all, for the most part, they were all first-time parents, and Jack hadn't ever had to tell Charlie that he was going to be an older sibling.

"Dr. Fraiser with child." Kinsah said simply.

Cassie whirled around to face her friend. "What?"

"He's right." Daniel said, after a few moments of stunned silence passed.

Her eyes widened. "Oh my god! That's why you were there for breakfast!"

Daniel winced as the rest of the adults bit their tongues. "Yeah..."

Kinsah raised his hand. "Excuse...can I speak with Jack?"

Jack looked at the young man. "Sure." Then, he turned to his wife and the others who were standing around Janet's cot. "I'll be back."

"What's up?"

"Wish go back to planet." Kinsah said plainly.

"Really? I thought you liked it here."

"I do. But miss promised one."

"You're engaged?"

The young man nodded. "We join in three weeks."

"Three weeks and you've been here?" Jack asked, surprised.

"She understand that duty comes first. Must form bonds with other people." He said, shrugging.

"When do you want to go?"

"Before tomorrow."

"I'll see what I can do. I"ve got to talk to General Hammond about it first."

He nodded. "Yes."

"Okay...go back in and say your good-byes. Or whatever you want to do. I'll come back with news from the General okay?"

"Thank you, Jack."

There was a sincerity in his eyes that reminded him of a small boy from his past with sandy, floppy hair, and an infectious love of life. "You're welcome."

* * *

_Read and review...please?_


	12. Goodbye

_Okay...this is the last chapter for this particular story...I've got one last one cooked up and that should be the end of this little "Dance" trilogy! One of my other stories, "Rodrigo The Spanish Tok'ra" was nominated for a Stargate fan award so whoever did that... THANK YOU!

* * *

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As Jack and Kinsah had their little talk, Janet and the others waited nervously for Cassie's reaction, but they were worried for nothing. The teen threw her arms around her mother and squealed loudly, causing the men folk in the room to plug their ears.

"I think she approves." Daniel commented dryly as he shook his head from side to side, seeing if his hearing was still intact.

"Has anybody seen my eardrums?" Nick asked.

Cassie whirled around and said, "Nick!" in a whining tone that made everyone laugh.

"What? You know you love me." the dancer replied, smiling at her.

She tried to glare at him, but failed miserably. "Grr!" she complained.

"That's what I usually say, Cassie." Lena told her with a chuckle.

Kinsah entered the room, followed closely by Jack. "Came to say goodbye." the young man said simply.

The others, with the exception of Nick, looked surprised.

"Don't you like it here?" Daniel asked, sounding slightly confused and hurt.

"Yes, like much, but sister and promised one wait for me." he explained.

"You're engaged? Why didn't you tell us?" Janet asked gently.

Kinsah shrugged. "Didn't know what you like yet...wanted to be sure I could trust."

They nodded. "Well that's pretty sensible." Sam said finally.

As they stood there contemplating each other, Cassie decided enough was enough and walked over to Kinsah, giving him a big hug. "I'll miss you, Kin...you're like a brother to me now." she told him softly.

"And you like another sister." he replied.

She turned away for a moment and Kinsah said urgently, "No cry Cassie...I visit, if that ok."

Jack nodded quickly and after clinging to him one last time, Cassie moved away. Sam embraced him next. "You take care of yourself, Kinsah and stay out of trouble, ok?"

He nodded and placed a gentle hand on her stomach. "You take care of both." he said seriously.

Jack slipped out and as Daniel, Nick, and Lena were saying their farewells, he reappeared with Lt. Harris. Janet gave Kinsah some advice and as he turned, the boy's face lit up when he saw Liam.

"Leem!" he said joyfully.

"Heard you were going home, so I thought I'd come say goodbye." Liam replied, a slight tremor in his voice betraying his easy manner.

"Yes. Good to go home, but will miss many here." Kinsah mused.

* * *

Once the hugging (and slight crying) were over, General Hammond's permission was given for the young alien to return to his homeworld. Before he went through the gate, Jack took him to the gate room and got him set up with an IDC.

"That way, if you ever need help, we know you're coming." he explained.

Kinsah nodded solemnly and saluted him. Jack returned the salute before hugging Kinsah himself.

"You take care of yourself, kid." he said gruffly.

"Okay...Yak." Kinsah replied, a smile on his face and a hint of mischief in his voice.

"Get going, you!" Jack replied, feeling both happy and sad at the same time.

Waving to them over his shoulder, Kinsah strode forward confidently into the gate and vanished.

Looking at the others, Nick commented quietly, "I wonder if we'll hear from him again."

Jack shook his head. "With the Goa'uld always on the move, it's a possiblity. For now, let's just get through the next few months, shall we?"

Everyone nodded and as they moved out of the gate room and back toward the cafeteria, Sam looked over at Nick and Lena. "Anytime you guys want to head home, you can." she told them.

There were more sad expressions at this, but Jack added, "Yeah...you two have got your outside lives you need to be getting back to...but don't think you won't be hearing from us...we never let our "consultants" out of our sight."

The Kosovichs chuckled at this and left the group to go to their room to begin packing.

"I'm going to miss them." Daniel said. "Without them and Kinsah around, things aren't going to the same around here."

"That's very true...we won't have to worry about Cassie being out at 2 in the morning and drooling over Nick!" Janet laughed.

At lunch, Nick and Lena joined them for one last meal together. The others were looking quite glum until Nick said, "Come on now, it's not like we live in a little village in Asia with no phone, for crying out loud!"

Sam snickered, Daniel laughed outright, Janet looked quite amused and Jack gave Nick a mock glare. "Hey, that's my line!" he complained.

Liam Harris came in and got his lunch, preparing to go back and sit by himself but was shocked when Jack called out, "Hey Harris, come sit with us."

Obediently, the young man came and sat down in the empty seat beside Daniel and across from Sam. "Thank you sir." he said, sounding slightly self-concious.

"Not a problem...now how do you feel about cake?"

Liam grinned broadly. "Love it sir...my mom makes a mean chocolate Zucchini cake."

Jack's eyebrows went up. "Do tell." he said.

As the lieutenant began to describe this culinary delight, Sam went and got a few slices of chocolate cake for everyone at the table. Returning with it, she set the slices down by everyone and as Liam reached for his, Jack cautioned, "Don't tell anyonew you ate this...the kitchen ladies make it just for me and anyone else I choose to give it to."

"Don't tell anyone I ate what?" Liam asked innocently.

"Good man." Jack replied with great satisfaction. Harris was a good kid and he expected that he would be hearing more good things about the young man as the years went on.

* * *

Nick and Lena were escorted to the surface where a car was waiting to take them to Denver where they would catch a plane back to New York. Hugs and goodbyes were exchanged, along with Sam extracting a promise from them that they had to come and see her child when it was born. The couple happily agreed to this.

Watching them leave, Jack hoped that Nick would be able to finally lead the kind of life that he wanted and deserved. It had taken him far too long to figure things out for himself and he was glad that he had been there to help put the dancer on the right path.

The car rounded the bend and they all stood there for a moment until the familiar alarm of an unauthorized off-world activation could be heard.

"Life calls." sighed Daniel. And with that, SG1 plus their CMO went back inside to deal with whatever was coming at them now...


End file.
